1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spray apparatus, for spraying oily confectionery raw material, which (1) optionally controls the spray area while maintaining the size of sprayed particles, and (2) automatically controls the spraying area and the particle size of sprayed oily confectionery raw material. Thus, the spray apparatus applies a uniform coating of raw material, such as chocolate, white chocolate, and oily cream, onto the surface of food.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two methods for spraying oily confectionery raw material are known: (1) an air spraying method using the compressed air for spraying the oily confectionery raw material, and (2) an airless spraying method in which the oily confectionery raw material is sprayed through a nozzle by use of a pressure tank or a high pressure pump. In the air spraying method, the amount or the pressure of compressed air is varied in order to control the spraying area and the particle size of the sprayed particles. When the amount or the pressure of compressed air is varied, the spraying area and the particle size are both changed. Therefore, in this method, it is difficult to control the spraying area and the particle size independently. In the airless spraying method, the liquid pressure supplied to a nozzle is varied to control the spraying area. When the spraying area varies, however, so does the particle size. Therefore, in this method, it is difficult to control the spraying area and the particle size independently.
Although these conventional spraying techniques are generally thought to be acceptable, they are not without shortcomings. Namely, it remains difficult to control the spraying area and the particle size independently. In general, the particle size is reduced when the spraying area is increased. For many applications, however, it is desirable to vary the spraying area while maintaining the particle size.
In the airless spraying method, in order to control the spraying area and the size of sprayed particles, it is necessary to control the pump pressure of the high pressure pump, to select a nozzle chip, and to control the viscosity of the oily confectionery raw material. In the air spraying method, in order to control the spraying area and the size of the sprayed particles, it is necessary to control the air pressure, to control the viscosity of the raw material supplied to the nozzle, and to control the amount of supplied raw material. In both techniques, the adjustments are complex, that is, the control over the spraying area and the particle size is complex.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved spray apparatus that easily and automatically controls the spraying area and the size of the sprayed particles, more specifically, an automatic spray apparatus for oily confectionery raw material that optionally adjusts the spray area while maintaining the particle size.
The present invention provides a spray apparatus for spraying oily confectionery raw material, wherein a nozzle cap is disposed around a nozzle, the nozzle cap is interlocked with a nozzle-cap-bar drive disc through a nozzle cap driving bar, and the nozzle-cap-bar drive disc is coupled with a cap-bar drive motor so that the nozzle-cap-bar drive disc is lengthwise moved to a desired position.